1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a durable, convenient and reliable means for the secure containment, dispensing and measure of wide, plastic roll-goods of differing lengths and widths, primarily for use in the construction trades. When properly utilized, the present invention allows tradespeople to quickly and accurately mask-off large areas of a site, desired to be protected from painter other over-spray damage, utilizing the more durable wide plastic sheeting for this purpose. Additionally, the dispenser allows for a convenient and secure residence for a tape measure and a knife or scissor tool, and further permits visual inspection of the amount of roll goods remaining inside the dispenser without the need of opening it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During construction of buildings and such, it is desirous for a tradesperson to quickly "mask-off" areas of the site, to help protect from "overspray" of paint or other materials. Additionally, during remodeling, it is desirous to protect and mask off furnishings and finished areas from dust infiltration and overspray, to provide for a clean, safe and well defined work.
To this end, a variety of masking devices have been developed to address this need. One type of such device is marketed in the U.S. as the "Scotch Hand Masker," which carries U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,557 and 3,950,214, and requires the use of roll paper goods, and can accommodate various widths and relatively short lengths of roll paper goods. The "Hand Masker" is a hand-held device which is cumbersome and prone to breakage during hard use in the trades, and requires a tradesman to apply multiple layers of masking paper to completely cover a large area, such as a sliding glass door. In practice, when paint or texture overspray resides on the paper masking, the masking paper becomes soggy and will not reliably permit a second coat without a lengthy wait, without "re-masking" the area.
Today, many plastic roll goods are packaged in durable cardboard containers. However, the cardboard containers provide no means for dispensing and measuring the roll goods contained therein.
Accordingly, these devices are generally unsatisfactory and relatively time consuming as reliable dispensers of wide plastic sheeting.
Other prior art devices which contain and dispense plastic roll goods are those as presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,486 and 4,714,191. These devices which contain and dispense plastic trash bags and the like offer a convenient storage and dispensing means for pre-perforated plastic trashbags.
Further prior art roll good dispensers are embodied by tissue container, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,452; and magazine for dispensing light-sensitive (plastic) materials, both of which provide pay-out aperture, as is found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,821,876, 5,053,795, and 5,038,934.
These devices which contain and dispense plastic roll material are all suitable for the utility upon which they received a patent, but none provide for a reliable and accurate measuring means. Presently there are no products which are designed to allow for a combination of storage, carrying, dispensing of various widths, and which provide a cutting surface in conjunction with a measuring means for the plastic roll good sheeting, to be used primarily as masking for the construction industry, all of which are address by the present invention in an easy-to-use package, as previously disclosed to the Office in the Disclosure Document program, Ser. No. 270,207.